Method of treating bagasse for the recovery of its values.



MARK W. MABSDEN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO SUGAR CANE BY-PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF nnnawann.

METHOD OF TREATING BAGASSE FOR THE RECOVERY OF ITS VALUES.

No Drawing.

'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it, known that I, MARK W. MARsnnN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Treating Bagasse for the Recovery of lts Values. of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to the treatment of bagasse for the recovery of its values.

In treating bagasse particularly for the recovery of its fiber for use in the manufaoture or paper and for other purposes, I have discovered that the pith is of consider able value in that when treated according to my invention it produces a sugar syrup or glucose of as good quality, if not better, than that obtained from starch, and at considerably less expense.

My present invention is therefore concerned with the separation and independent recovery of the pith and fiber, and to these ends. resides in the matters hereinafter described and finally claimed.

l'n practising the invention, I take the bag'asse or sugar cane after its discharge from the extractor and pass it through a shredder of any suitable construction in order to reduce it to a uniformly divided fibrous pithy mass. In this state it is subjected to the action of a drier so as to remove all but about say ten per cent, more or less, of the natural moisture. The stock, shredded and dried, as described, is next ground in an attrition mill to such fineness as to break the pith away from the fiber, and the separation of these two elements is then completed for example by screening or blow %he pith or cellulose divested of the fiber is ground to about the fineness of flour or starch, and in this powdered stateis boiled in water for from one to three hours or. for such period as is required to efiect the removal or liberation of all objectionable soluble matter. After this step the mate- Specification of Letters Patent.

a liquid by the addition of water.

Patented May 191%..

Application filed November 11, 1915. Serial No. 683%.

rial is washed and pressed and then re- 7 ground in its wet state into a paste as fine as. desired. The paste is then formed into The latter contains a ferment such as, for example, malt or diastase, and is heated to a temperature range of from 130 to 160 degrees F. The purpose of this treatment is to induce fermentation which is COMP pleted by the addition of dilute sulfuric acid. For illustrative purposes, to a volume of say two hundred and fifty pounds of paste, 1 from fifty to seventy-five gallons of water containing from one to two and a halt pounds of sulfuric acid. The mass is then boiled either in an open or closed vessel under suiiicient pressure to recover the cellulose in soluble form either as a syrup, glucose or sugar, according to the strength of acid that is employedf The acid of course is neutralized in the usual manner by the addition of carbonate of lime and after settling or precipitation is clarified by filtration through animal charcoal v or other suitable material.

The procem may then be continued in order to purify the product and for this purpose any of the well known and standard methods may be adopted as in the art of sugar manufacture.

The fiber is boiled either in an open or closed receptacle in the presence of water in order to dissolve and remove the extractive matter, whereupon digesting with an alkali is resorted to so as to remove the incrusting matter and silica and to loosen the fiber. The latter is then reduced to a pulp f flew, boiiing K.

121 the pfesence 01 Water 111 obgee blenebie soluble matte grounfl to substantially ehe fineness 0f flame" 1 a. d emulsified with "we-tel".

in besfisimony whereof 1 affix my signature in the presence of We Wi'ilHQSSQS.

MARK MAESDEN.

ehe dear pith and fuming it in; a, paste, and thereafter proceeding as-usuel for the recevewy 4 A 01: glucose. i men sepel' 

